Being in El Salvador has been a different experience! As you all know being in Guatemala was ministry after ministry and we constantly had things to be doing and places to be. In El Salvador it has been a bit more laid back. We are staying with a lady called Lupe – we call her Mamma Lupe. She is probably one of the most kindest and caring people I have ever met! Her house is situated in the city and has a different feel to Guatemala – it is more noisy here and more of the busy lifestyle! There is more things to find that remind us of home! Our week has not been jam packed infact we have had a lot of free time… I feel this has been a month of letting our team grow and bond together!
This is how our week looks…
Monday- free morning, afternoon- spanish lesson, night- free.
Tuesday- school- ( from pre school age – high school age) We have been going and doing 2 different programmes – one for the middle school age and one for the high school age! This for me has been an awesome time- my heart goes out to the youth! Being able to share who I once was and how God has changed me from the inside out is precious to me! I pray that what we tell them will stick and that they will chose God instead of sex,drugs and gangs!
Tuesday afternoon- free.
Tuesday night- cell group at Starbucks 🙂 We have had some great times at this cell group we meet with mama lupes 2 friends, drink excellent coffee have worship and go through a Bible study together 🙂
Wednesday- Fusate -which is an old folks home. We thought this would be a ministry working with the old people, but actually we have been there doing a lot of cleaning- scrubbing floors,walls and windows. You can either have a stinking attitude and wonder why am I here scrubbing every other day or you can come in and see it as someones home that you want to make nice for them. I choose the second attitude! We have had some fun times while cleaning 🙂
Wednesday Night- Free.
Thursday- Fusate- back at the home for more cleaning 🙂
Thursday afternoon/night- normally free
Friday- Free day/ day off- celebrating Marks birthday- movie,pizza and ice-cream 🙂 One day we went to visit an awesome Volcano 🙂 We also went to massive waterfalls – it was an incredible day – I used to see places like this on Bear Grylls, Planet Earth or National Geographic and now I am actually seeing it in real life! I am blessed!!
Saturday- Kids ministry – Putting on kids programmes for kids in small villages and communities. Singing songs, doing dramas and playing games! We have had awesome times on our saturdays! Saturday night- Free
Sunday- (The day of rest haha!) Sunday we are out from 7am – 7pm so this is our longest day! We start off by going to church then straight after we go to a village which is a beautiful 2 hour drive away! When we get there it is like going back in time- this is where the poor people are – the difference is crazy! We go to a church in the morning which is beautiful- big, seats hundreds, awesome band and media, to a church that has a metal roof, no walls and picnic chairs. The church only has about 3 family's that go, but God is moving! It showed me how we do not need a big fancy building for a church ( not that there is anything wrong with a great building) but it goes to show that we don't need such things to spread the gospel. All we need is a place to meet and someone willing to share! Being at the villages has been a special time for me- we go and visit families in their homes before the service – I cannot speak a word of spanish but being in their company and smiling,laughing and praying for these people is all we need to communicate because Jesus is there and HE does the rest- love has no barriers!
El salvador has been an awesome time – at first I struggled with missing Guatemala and being home sick. I also felt guilty for all the free time we had wondering if we were doing enough? Are we doing enough ministry? Are we impacting enough?
Last Saturday Mama Lupe came in from the end of her day and had bought pizza for dinner – she then let on at the end of her day that it was her birthday! We could not believe it!! We were annoyed because we had no card or cake for her! This is the kind of lady she is- putting herself before others even on her birthday! We started to ask her questions about her birthdays in the past and what her favourite one was – she said that she loved this one! We were laughing because we hadn't done anything- she started to cry and told us that for the first time in 18 years she had people living in her house and that it was no longer empty- she said she was full of joy and happy! At that moment I think we were all in tears… I realised that the whole time of being here and wondering what has our greatest ministry been – that it has been her!!
How we will leave her with knowing that I do not know!
Girls and Mama Lupe 🙂
